Oral history interview with Stanley Paher conducted by Claytee D. White on March 20, 2023 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Paher recalls his childhood, being born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. His family built and owned the Gateway Auto Court, now the Gateway Motel, at the corner of Las Vegas and Charleston Boulevards. After a brief period serving in the United States Navy and obtaining a bachelor's degree, Paher entered the master's program at the University of Nevada, Reno. Paher discusses his love of researching and writing about Nevada ghost towns, including writing his first book on the subject in 1970. He recalls seeing the physical book on the printing press, and talks about the profound impact that moment had on his life. It led to the founding of Nevada Publications, and his involvement with 59 Las Vegas and northern Nevada authors from 1970 through 2023. Paher has written fifteen books on Nevada, Arizona, and California.
The Donna Silva Lighting Design Plans (1986-1996) contain blueprints and schedule binders for a number of projects Silva worked on in Las Vegas, Nevada including the New York-New York Hotel & Casino, The Orleans Hotel & Casino, Golden Nugget, and the MGM Grand Hotel. Also included are lighting plans for the Foxwoods Resort Casino (operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation) in Connecticut, Caesars Atlantic City, and Players Island (now CasaBlanca Resort) in Mesquite, Nevada.
Oral history interview with R. Byron Stringer conducted by Claytee D. White on May 11, 2023 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. String begins the interview discussing his childhood, and growing up as the child of a preacher. After moving to Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 16, Stringer recalls spending time in the library and wearing zoot suits while attending high school. Stringer then discusses his journey to becoming a Las Vegas Metro police officer, and recalls what the police academy experience was like. Over the years, while fulfilling many positions in the police department, he also learned to write plays, and he began to talk and write about his experiences in the police department. This led to his current venture, the "Toe Tag Monologues." The Monologues are designed to help people survive their pain, trauma, the world. Stringer writes and produces plays around various Toe Tags helping young people on drugs, those being bullied, and those contemplating suicide.
The AH'-WAH-NEE Exhibition Records (2020-2021) contain materials related to the AH'-WAH-NEE Exhibit which was the first exhibit at the UNLV Donna Beam Gallery featuring local and regional Native American women artists. UNLV resides on the traditional homelands of the Nuwuvi, Southern Paiute People. The exhibit was curated by MFA Art student Fawn Douglas (2021), and ran November 1-December 10, 2021. The records contain exhibit planning documents, correspondence, publicity, loan agreements, and photographs of objects and installation views for exhibit catalogs. Also included are photographs and videos taken during the symposium events at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art Auditorium and the Paul Harris Theatre and the exhibit's closing event held at the Donna Beam Gallery. The collection also includes archived web captures of the AH'-WAH-NEE exhibition website and for Nuwu Art + Activism Studios. AH'-WAH-NEE is Paiute for 'balance'.
Oral history interview with Dorothy and Altus E. "Tex" Nunley by Dennis McBride on June 9, 1986 for the Boulder City Library Oral History Project. The interview starts with Tex, who relates how he arrived in Nevada in 1931 as a government "rod man", employed to assist the engineers planning the infrastructure for the construction of Hoover Dam. He discusses the early tent city called "McKeeversville" named after the mess hall cook who pitched the first tent in the area, and the process of building railroad tracks from the Union Pacific spur that ended in what would soon become Boulder City. After this, both speak at length about the details of the dam's construction, Tex's work as a high rigger, the development of Boulder City, and many anecdotes about individuals associated with bost the city and the dam.
Oral history interview with Allison and Hugh Wallace conducted by Claytee D. White on March 17, 2006 for the Hurricane Katrina Survivors in Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, the Wallaces relate their upbringing, families, and educational attainments. Later, they talk about their experiences with Hurricane Katrina, evacuating and then returning to find their neighborhood overrun with looters and their home severely damaged by the flooding. They discuss the extreme difficulty they faced finding money and resources as they faced loss of employment, housing, and access to their bank accounts. They also describe the emergency relief efforts of various state, national, and federal agencies. Finally, they relate that these difficulties led to their decision to move to Las Vegas, Nevada and comment on the difficulty of maintaining contact with friends and colleagues who also left Louisiana.
Oral history interview with Jan Corash conducted by David Schwartz on July 13, 2007 for the Remembering Jay Sarno Oral History Project. Corash talks about her uncle, casino developer Jay Sarno and more broadly, her extended family. She explains her grandparent's origins in the region of "The Pale" between Poland and Russia, how they immigrated to United States and the birth of Sarno and his siblings. She continues with a deeper discussion about sibling rivalry between the Sarno siblings, and how the personality traits that Jay Sarno learned from his family translated to his dealings with others. She discusses the family's connection to the mob, the fact that both Jay Sarno and his brother Herman were brilliant individuals, and the impact of all these things on Jay Sarno's hotel development plans.
Oral history interview with Ann Lynch conducted by Sandra Klimik on October 17, 1985 for the UNLV University Libraries Oral History Collection. In this interview, Lynch briefly explains how she started working in hospitals as a volunteer in 1959 and then gives an overview of the development of hospitals in Las Vegas, Nevada. Most of the interview is directed at the development and history of Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas. Lynch discusses the developers, Irwin Molasky, Moe Dalitz, Allard Roen and Merv Adelson, and their the original goal to build a physician medical building to attract doctors to their planned community, which included the Las Vegas Country Club and gold course, the Boulevard Mall, and the Boulevard Apartments. She describes the opening of the hospital in 1958, and then moves into a more detailed discussion of nurses and how their roles have shifted since the 1960s. Finally, she talks about the city's growth and the economic burden insurance companies and federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid have on hospital profitability.
Oral history interview with Alex Kang conducted by Cecilia Winchell and Stefani Evans on October 4, 2022 for the Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Kang discusses his childhood moving back and forth between Pusan, South Korea and America as his parents sought the best place to raise their children. Kang recalls the multitude of endeavors he has heavily invested in since he was young, from moving to Brazil to pursue his interests in soccer to practicing golf every single day in his youth. Kang attended San Diego State University on a scholarship to play golf and majored in math. He got involved in a party bus business, honed his golf skills, and decided to learn how to count cards at the casino. Kang moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2013. Throughout the rest of the interview, Kang discusses how he organizes extravagant events, including an event hosting the popular K-Pop group BTS in Las Vegas, his golfing career, and enjoying his life surrounded by his family.
The Barbara Tabach Papers (1978-2022) mainly contain project files kept by oral historian Barbara Tabach throughout her experiences managing different oral history community documentation projects for the Oral History Research Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) from 2010 to 2022. Oral history projects represented in this collection include Documenting the African American Experience in Las Vegas, Nevada, Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project, Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada, Remembering 1 October, and The Great Pause: Las Vegas Chronicles of the Covid-19 Pandemic. The majority of the collection represents Tabach's involvement as project manager for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Other materials include correspondence, newspaper clippings, event invitations, interview questions, memorabilia and books gifted to Tabach from oral history narrators, and publicity for the projects.